Easter Swap.

 Happy Easter everyone.
Over the last few weeks I have been making some miniatures for my first attempt at a swap. Fabiola from http://fabiolamiominimondo.blogspot.com organised this swap and I thought it would be lots of fun.






My first swap partner was Doortje from

http://rdoortjesminis.blogspot.com.au
Rdoortjes Minis. I received a mixture of items some that can be used for diy and others that are ready to go. The little basket is adorable and the bear looks good enough to eat.

 My other partner was Maribel  from Miniaturas Isabel. http://maribel41.blogspot.com.au Her gifts included many items for the lady of the house. Don't they look good on the Chaise Lounge?

The lovely Chaise Lounge is my prize from Modernist Molly's Minis. http://mollymini.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/50-follower-valentine-day-giveaway.html?spref=bl.  I was lucky enough to recently win her Valentines Giveaway. The prize was a lounge of your choice. As I do not have a modern dollhouse (not yet anyway) I thought a chaise would be a great choice to put in my Victorian Dollhouse. She also included some printies and flowers. They are lovely gifts.

Thanks again to my swap partners and for the giveaway. Lovely things just in time for Easter.

Now for something BIG!!!

In Australia not only are we obsessed by miniatures we like to make really big things. We have big Pineapples, bananas, rocking horses and prawns. If you have a chance have a look at Wikipedia and you will get an idea of how many we have.


I live a short drive away from one of  the most interesting ones (in my opinion).
The Big Merino was built in 1985 as a celebration of the Goulburn (NSW) Districts wool industry. It was a very popular landmark but suffered a decline when the city of Goulburn was bypassed.In 2007 they moved "Rambo" (his local nickname) to his new site. It was quite a big moment for Goulburn as roads were closed and power lines shut down to move him. (He stands at 15.2 m high. He is 18m long and weighs 97 tones)









Last weekend was Goulburn's 150 anniversary and to celebrate this the Goulburn branch of the NSW Knitters Guild knitted him his very own scarf. I think its amazing....Im not much of a knitter but I can imagine the hours taken to create it. As I was driving back from Canberra yesterday (From a mini show....I will post about this latter) I thought I'd drop by and snap a picture of Rambo in his scarf to share with you.
Do you have an interesting landmark near you. Don't hesitate to tell us about it in the comments section. 


Until next time...have fun mini-ing (or make it Super Big!)

The Roof is on (But not complete)

 It only took one afternoon to shingle the Little Blue House roof, but I was amazed just how many shingles I would need to do the job. I started out by drawing one inch lines along the roof sides and began shingling with a full shingle. You might be able to notice in the following pictures that I would need to trim the last shingle. Again my trusty cutter came to the rescue...so easy to cut.

 The completed roof will need a gable(?) of some sort to cover the glue joints. I'm quite happy with the raw timber of the shingles at the moment, however it does make the house look very new. Can anyone spot my mini mistake? In all my attempts at painting the house the front right veranda pillar missed it coats of paint. It stands out terribly...so its off to the shed for a touch up.

Other than the roof I haven't done much mini-ing for myself. I have however been making some Easter Swaps for Fabiola's Easter Swap. You can check her blog at http://fabiolamiominimondo.blogspot.com.au.
It was the first time that I have entered a swap and I was a little nervous about it. Once my swap partners have received their gifts I'll show you what I made.

 My last two photos today are my gifts from Little Rabbit Miniatures. http://littlerabbitminis.blogspot.com.au
I recently entered her competition to name her mini feline friend. My name "Whiskers" was chosen. I haven't had a cat of my own for many years and always thought "Whiskers" would be a good name if I had one.

Don't they look good outside the Little Blue House?

I have recently noticed that I have had many people join as followers. I haven't had a chance to thank you personally for joining but would like to thank you all now...so....

THANKYOU!!!

If you get a chance to comment on todays post I'd love to hear where you are from. It's great to know where you are in the world.

Well, have a terrific day...keep on mini-ing!

I wish this was real life size!

 Last year I won a giveaway from Sarah at http://miniature-dollhouse.blogspot.com.au. 

I was so excited to find it had arrived in the mail today.

It is so beautiful that I knew as soon as I got home I would need to blog about it. Sarah has made such a wonderful cake...it looks good enough to eat. (I've been hungry since it arrived!) I love the little doily also.



You can find Sarah's miniatures at  Dollhouse Kitchen http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahmaloney
but be prepared (I suggest that you eat something before viewing) or you will be as hungry as me!

Thanks again Sarah for the giveaway.

IndyPoppy

Mini-ing of a different kind.

 Last week there was no time for dollhouse miniatures as I was given a challenge from my boyfriend. Last year we purchased yet another mini. It put our total count of minis to 3 (though I have suspicions that there may be another one in the shed in bits (as my boyfriend keeps bringing 'parts' home. he he he :)

My challenge was to clean as much of the old interior as I could and replace parts that were needed. I made a couple of interior panels including the doors. (What does this have to do with miniatures you might ask?) Well, many of the skills I have learnt in making minis were used. For example to make the templates for the dash I made paper templates just like you would for wallpapering a dollhouse.

 So why go to the effort? In Australia minis are becoming quite rare and so are their parts, so when all else fails you make or mend. The final result I'm pretty happy about....a few things I want to work on but nothing major. I think Kryton is quite happy with his new interior. Yes thats right....I named my mini. Kryton is a racing mini that we hope to race in the next few months. He is sporting his new numbers.

 As Kryton was looking so good we took him down the coast to a mini show and shine. Here he is with all his friends. (Don't they all look good  together)

On a mini note. I received today the first of a few mini giveaways I won recently. This came all the way from Finland. I won one of the many Minitarnat's Giveaways.  Tuija sent me several beautiful gifts including her hand made basket. Included was a pack of ribbons and other items to make miniatures with. I already have a few ideas up my sleeve for them. Thankyou for your beautiful gift Tuija.

Little Blue House. Almost complete.

 Over the last week I have been working on my little kit house. I'm still a little unsure what the theme of the house will be but I found a little tube of blue sample paint and I knew straight away that it must be blue. I was really surprised to find that the itty bitty sample I brought actually went so far and it was super cheap ($3.50AUD)

 I started by painting everything with undercoat just like a real house and I'm glad that I did as the board soaked up the paint very quickly. The house required 3 coats to get a nice finish.

 As I'm unable to get to my favourite miniature shop to get wallpaper I thought I'd try some scrapbook paper. It went on well but I did make some paper templates before I cut the real thing. It wasn't quite long enough so there is a join (hopefully not too noticeable?)

 Inside I need to put architrave around the window and door to finish it.

 The roof....well...its another story. The kit came with a very plain mdf panel. I'm hoping to use this but will add shingles. So its off to ebay for me to see if I can find some.

 I thought I'd share with you my new gadget. It's a Midwest Products 'Easy Cutter'. When I was last at the local miniature shop I discovered these and asked "Do they actually work?" The shop owner swore by them and she was right. They are super easy to use and can cut lots of angles. For the window architrave they cut a perfect 45 degree angle. They work just like scissors. Too easy!

So does anyone in blogland have some suggestions for my little house? What should I turn it in to?

For my blog friends in Australia I hope that the summer bushfire season has been kind to you and that you are all safe and sound. Where I live in NSW we had what the Fire Service calls "Catastrophic Conditions". With one fire only 4 kms away on Tuesday it was a bit scary. Luckily they got it out really quickly!

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone around the world is having a fabulous Christmas. We usually have a very hot day in Australia but over the last few days we have had a lot of rain and even hail. Most of today has been 13 degrees celsius.

My first picture today is an Australian White Cockatoo. We have many native birds that visit our garden and every now and then we get Cockatoos. They are lovely birds but do tend to like to eat anything made of wood. They have been known to eat timber windows and verandas.

Merry Christmas from Down Under.

I had a lovely day with my family and thought I'd share with you some of my favourite Christmas decorations.

These little houses are made from Woodcraft kits, lots of paint and lots of glitter. We usually place these little houses on the fire place but this year Mum had a new cupboard built so we decided to set it up on it. Its super cute (even if I do say myself) and is extra special as the cupboard has lights. We do however need lots more little trees so I'll be on the lookout for these in the post Christmas sales.

We traditionally have Christmas at my Mums. Mum always bakes pork, chicken and turkey with baked vegetables. Desert is a trifle made of jelly, custard, cake and cream. We  have a steamed plum pudding. This year we even tried to ignite it with brandy. But  despite our efforts it would not ignite.

The Christmas table is always covered with Christmas treats and bon bons or Christmas Crackers. These are always great fun as the jokes inside are always terrible, the hats never fit and the little toys inside seem to fling across the room. (sometimes the toys are perfect for miniatures)

 Putting a Christmas tree up in our lounge room is a long held tradition in my family. This year I didn't have a tree so I put lots of my decorations on my Mums Tree.

When I was very little I would also put out my Christmas pillow case for Santa. I remember driving my Mum crazy on Christmas Day.





From about 4 am in the morning I'd start asking Mum if I could get up to check if Santa had been. Mum would eventually give in and I would run out to the tree and drag my full pillow case to her room. Then I would take my presents out one by one out of the pillow case and be so excited. Great Memories.


My Mum and I have started a collection of these little birds. We aim to buy one each Christmas but of course have got carried away (there are now several on our Christmas tree)

This little bird is my Great Grandmar's. It's the only one that has survived over the years. We had to add some tail feathers to it last year as it was looking rather sad.

I hope your all enjoyed your celebrations and would love to hear from you about your holidays and traditions.